Eliza Lowman Challis, her life in Hull

In January 2019 I wrote a bog about my maternal great great grandmother Eliza Lowman Challis, about her childhood and her marriage to William Frederick Tozer. My blog about her ended when she was 29 years old, the mother of three young children and a recent widow after the untimely death of her husband. This blog will be about the rest of her life until her death in 1927 at the grand old age of 85. When Eliza's husband died in 1872 they were living in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire and William had been running a prosperous painting and decorating business which his father William Henry Tozer, who was also a painter and decorator was able to take over and continue. In 1881 William Henry and his wife Maria were registered as living in the former home of their son and William senior employed 4 men and 2 apprentices. I don't know how long Eliza remained in Wellingborough with her three children and how her relationship with her in laws was, Eliza and her children weren’t mentioned in William Henry Tozer’s last Will and Testament which he made in April 1901, so I assume that they didn’t have any contact. In 1881 when the census was taken she was living in Hull, East Yorkshire and she was employed as a Housekeeper to a Jewish, Prussian born, Broker and General Dealer called Solomon Henry. Eliza and her three children resided in Solomon's home which was 70 Gibson Street, a side street of Cannon Street which is located near the centre of Hull just off of Beverley Road.

Eliza's younger brother Joseph Robert Challis was also residing in Hull with his family as were some other distant Challis relations and it was probably through her brother Joseph's influence that Eliza decided to move up north to Hull, a distance of around 200 km from Wellingborough instead of back down to Kent where her Mother was still living and other family members. Possibly Joseph had heard that Solomon Henry was looking for a housekeeper and he recommended his sister for the job. Solomon Henry had been charged in January 1866 by his wife Sarah with brutally assaulting her and had received 21 days imprisonment, hopefully he treated Eliza and her children better than his wife. I am not sure when Eliza moved up to Hull and started working for Solomon but it must have been for a few years because when Solomon Henry passed away In December 1881 aged 59, he left all his household plate, linnen, China, paintings, books, ornaments and furniture to his housekeeper Eliza Lowman Tozer as well as two hundred and fifty pounds, which was quite a large amount at that time and makes you wonder whether Eliza's relationship to Solomon was more than just a housekeeper. With this money Eliza would have been able to comfortably support her self and her children. Just as an intriguing side note, I have a slip of paper in my Mum's handwriting which she wrote down after interviewing her own mother years ago about her family. My Nana told Mum that her auntie Maggie had showed her a Will belonging to her grandma, Eliza and that it had a red seal. The story was that some relation, a Silversmith had loaned Eliza some money and they had claimed the Will as security, Eliza was saving to claim back the Will but was a year short of getting it. Nana only saw the document after her Grandma died. Interestingly one of the Executors of Solomon's Will, was Frederick Larard who was a Silversmith. Could Eliza have lost her claim to this money? The Probate was issued in March 1882 and around this same time Eliza's mother Eliza Challis passed away in Dover, did Eliza maybe borrow money to travel down to Dover? So many questions. What I do know is that within the next ten years her eldest son William Henry enlisted in the military and in 1884 when he was 17 was sent to fight in the Sudan campaign, later in 1899 after his marriage he also fought in South Africa in the Boer War. In the Summer of 1889 her 19 year old second son Frederick was married to Annie Ellerington and in the beginning of the following year his wife gave birth to a baby boy whom they named Cyril, Eliza had become a grandmother. Shortly before this event, on the 14th December 1889 Eliza, who was 47, married a 38 year old widower called George Dunn. George was a tailor and had been a widower for 5 years and was the father of five children, the eldest of whom was 13 and the youngest 6. Eliza's youngest child, my great grandmother Rose would have been 18 when her mother remarried and was working as a domestic nurse. Eliza's second marriage doesn't seem to have been a success, in February of 1891 George's eldest son died and when the census was taken in the Spring of 1891, George was living with the Mother of his deceased wife, his two daughters were living with his sister's family and his two surviving sons with his own parents in South Cave. Eliza was living on her own means with friends. In March of 1892 there was a court case and a charge was brought against George Dunn for not supporting his estranged wife Eliza Dunn. Apparently an order had been granted 12 months previously in which he had to pay 5 shillings per week towards her maintenance and he was now 16 shillings and 6 pence in arrears. During the court case Eliza admitted that she had gone to the Spring Bank Methodist Chapel where her husband attended and on one occasion had sat behind him and his mother in law, though she denied having sneered at said mother in law when she turned around. She did admit to asking him for money outside of the place of worship and told the court that her husband frequented public houses and put his money on horses. Eliza also denied having written insulting letters about her husband to others. George was eventually given a respite of 8 days in order to pay the half of the owed maintenance otherwise he would face imprisonment. During the coming years more grandchildren were born, Frederick had a total of eight children though four of them died as babies and his youngest daughter died when she was 3 years old. Eliza's eldest son William Henry married Margaret Cass (this would have been the auntie Maggie mentioned earlier) in 1897 and they had 6 children though three of these also died as babies and his youngest daughter also died when she was three years old. The death of all these grandchildren must have brought much sadness into Eliza's life. Eliza's youngest child Rose didn't get married until 2nd June 1900 when she was 28 years old, after her marriage she moved with her husband Harry Popplewell to his home town of Batley, West Yorkshire, where their daughter Violet Popplewell, my Nana was born on the 12th December 1900.

In 1901 I believe that Eliza was living on Thwaite Street in Cottingham, a small village on the outskirts of Hull where she is recorded as being a shopkeeper and grocer, she would have been 59 at this time. Her estranged husband George Dunn was living with another woman whom he called his housekeeper on the census though he appears to have had several children by her. He eventually passed away in 1905 and Eliza officially became a widow again. In September 1910 Cyril Tozer, Eliza's eldest grandson was married and a year later her first great grandchild was born and named Frederick Tozer. In the following eight years five more great grandchildren where born though three of these died as babies. In 1911 Eliza was still living in Cottingham and was working again as a housekeeper for a Mr. Henry Kirk at Pigeon Cote Hill, Hall Gate, Cottingham, Mr. Kirk's son Robert and his 8 year old grandson were also living with them. In February 1914, a few months before the First World War began, Eliza's eldest son William Henry Tozer passed away, aged 49. He was buried at the Western Cemetery, Spring Bank Road with full military honours. Around 1917 Eliza's daughter Rose returned to live in Hull from Bridlington after being divorced from her second husband William Whiting. Her granddaughter Violet (my Nana) would have been 17 at this time and remembers her grandma Eliza as being petite with long black hair, not grey and being very pretty, Eliza would have been in her seventies at this time. In June 1922 Eliza would most probably have attended the wedding of her granddaughter Violet Popplewell and a year later would have been pleased to hear about the birth of her great grandson Cyril Orwin, followed by the births of great granddaughters Joan in 1924 and my Mum, Doreen in 1926. She would also have been saddened to hear about the death of her eldest grandchild Cyril Tozer who passed away at the age of 34 in 1925. In 1927 Eliza was living at the Gas Room Almhouses, on Fountain Road, Hull. She was beginning to suffer from senile decay (dementia) and possibly fell out of her bed and fractured her left leg, this fall resulted in her death on the 8th July 1927, an inquest was held on the 9th July with a verdict of misadventure. Eliza was survived by two of her three children, eight of her eighteen grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.